


Curiosities

by SimonKilnsworth



Series: Chuki Tails [6]
Category: Chuki
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26010250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimonKilnsworth/pseuds/SimonKilnsworth
Summary: Commission for ZapMouse, with a guest appearance from the previous story: Ferro. Two brothers, Ankor and Rakon, venture to the woods beyond the city of Parmesan for the sake of science, but after a chain of new discovers, they begin to question if perhaps they bit off more than they can chew.
Series: Chuki Tails [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1489073





	Curiosities

“I told you to bring a map,” Rakon chided as he held the brush aside for his younger brother. Ankor gave him a look as he ducked underneath the leaves, one that made Rakon decide he’d held path open long enough and let the branches whip back into his brother’s face.

“And I told you,” Ankor began as he dug himself free, pausing to spit out leaves and he didn’t want to know what else, “we’ve gone this way a dozen times. We should _both_ know the way without one.” Free of the bush, the blonde-furred Qiu Chuki brushed down his shirt and pushed up his glasses, glaring at his brother harder now that he had nothing to weaponize against him. The red Jo looked aloof as ever.

“Besides,” Ankor went on, picking things out of his hair, “real maps are useless. They have nothing that tells you where you are or any voice telling you where to go.”

“And yet,” Rakon added, “Chuki got by with them just fine for hundreds of years before we were ruined by minimaps in games.” Ankor glared harder. Rakon rolled his eyes. “Alright smarty-pants, then tell me where we are. Or even easier, tell me how far we are.”

Ankor started to grumble under his breath, no answer forthcoming until finally he turned away from his brother. “Okay fine! I have no idea! Tell me, o’ wise woodland spirit.”

Rakon shrugged in response. “Beats me.”

Ankor spun back on him. “Then what are you griping to me about?!”

He shrugged again. “It’s fun?”

Ankor rubbed his temples. “Just figure out where we are, please? I promise I’ll bring a map next time.”

Rakon grinned. His brother always took everything too seriously.

He turned to face the forest and snapped his fingers. A small spark floated up from them as he did, but instead of fading away, it hovered there, rising slowly until it was about a foot over him. As it rose, Rakon closed his eyes, and the world opened up around him. The spark radiated tiny amounts of heat and magic, allowing his perception to expand outwards. It was as though he could see everything within a hundred feet as if he were standing around it from every angle. He could feel every blade of grass and rough stone, every groove of tree bark and ant crawling over them. He could feel the breeze ruffle each individual leaf, and, most importantly, it showed him where they needed to go.

“This way,” he said, letting the magic fade away as he started walking.

“You’re absolutely sure?” Ankor questioned looking around. He wasn’t the most outdoorsy Chuki.

“Fully.” Rakon had taken the liberty of scratching marks on some trees, knowing he’d be able to find them like that later.

Actually, he had just been bored waiting for his brother to finish taking samples, but if anyone asked it was totally forethought on his part.

Rakon didn’t wait to see if Ankor followed, knowing he would, and soon heard his footsteps running to catch up with him.

At the site, after helping Ankor set up his equipment, Rakon wandered around the area. He supposed he could be doing more to help his brother – he was just as invested in his research – but when Ankor got in his zone he wasn’t much for delegating, and didn’t want anyone in his way either. Besides, Rakon couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

They had been studying the nature of Ki at the edge of a nexus’ perceptual influence in Parmesan for almost a year when they’d found something they didn’t think there was any record of before: two nodes – about five meters from one another – that shared a physical connection beneath the ground to each other.

They were in a small cave which, by the shape of the entrance, made Rakon think was once the result of an upended tree, where the hole it had left behind had flooded and drained over and over for centuries until it formed the space it was now. It was kinda like an outdoor entrance to a basement, only the doors were vines and a bee’s nest they’d had to relocate before they could begin exploring.

According to his brother, the reason why nodes were usually isolated was because Ki permeated everything. The crystals were physical manifestations of that fact, just at a much higher density. They had no need to be connected because they already were. Ankor’s own magic was proof enough of that.

Rakon walked over to the spot where his brother had planted his seed earlier. Already it was sprouting, a tiny tendril of bronze crystal amongst a sea of green. By tomorrow, it would grow to resemble a small flower that would contain a high density of energy useful for various things. He had others around as well, planted on days previous and far enough to not interfere with the measurements he was taking. It was all actually very interesting.

As a Chuki invested in logistics, the idea of being able to understand and potentially tap into the planet’s own communication system was something of a wonder to him. In theory they’d be able to accurately predict weather systems, earthquakes, tides; it would be incredible!

Of course, most Chuki tended to believe all the old stories told to them as kids and saw the idea of messing with the planet in any way as bad. They had already been given their way of communicating with the planet, and with that came magic. Trying to take anything more, then, was just biting the hand that fed you.

Rakon and Ankor had a different view: they saw it as untapped potential – a skill they already possessed but didn’t fully understand yet. They simply needed to learn.

Thus far, they’d had little luck convincing anyone. He let out a dissatisfied click of his tongue that echoed into the trees.

Then it dawned on him: the forest was silent.

Beyond the breeze that barely touched beneath the treetops, there was nothing. No birds, insects; nothing. Strange…

“Rakon!” Ankor called out, breaking the Jo from his thoughts. He turned to see his brother jogging towards him. “What are you doing out here?”

The older brother shrugged. “Just taking a break.”

“Well, I’m ready for one too.” He turned and started back to the cave. “Let’s have lunch.”

Lunch was simple fare, as it usually was: sandwiches made from whatever they had lying around the house. Neither of them were very good cooks.

Today that was BLTs. They munched on them with a bag of chips and lemonade as they sat against a tree close to the mouth of the cave.

“We’re gonna have to dig other nodes up,” Ankor was saying.

“The temple will _love_ to hear that,” his brother reminded him.

“Not _actually_ dig any of them up,” the Qiu clarified, “just around them enough to see if there’s any other connections like this one. All the tests I’ve run haven’t told me anything, so the next step is to see if it’s unique to these, or do more in the area work in a binary system.” Rakon’s eyes wandered off, thoughts still on his realization before, though he continued to pay attention. “If they _are_ the same, then we can probably conclude that’s just how the crystals form around here. It wouldn’t be the first node field we researched where the crystals shared some uniformity. Otherwise we-”

“Ankor?”

He paused. “Yeah?”

“Isn’t that your flower from yesterday?” Rakon pointed to a spot a little ways off between two trees at the edge of the clearing. Ankor followed the hand. His eyes went wide before he scrambled up and over to it, Rakon trailing behind. When they were both leaning over it, he added, “It’s not looking too good.”

Ankor wordlessly agreed. He ran back to their bags and returned with a shovel, carefully extracting the crystal flower from its spot in the soil. Rakon cut their plastic lemonade bottle in half and let his brother place the tiny blossom inside it.

“We need to go back,” Ankor told him.

The flower was… shriveled. That was best way Rakon could describe it. He had seen enough of his brother’s magic to know what they were supposed to look like at each of the stages of their week-long lives. This one looked crushed, only it was still in one piece so that couldn’t have been the case. He continued to internally speculate while the younger peered into a microscope.

“The structure is completely different,” Ankor said eventually, swapping the sample out to another: a flower he’d had growing at home for roughly the same amount of time. “The empty space in the matrix is down to almost nothing, but the flower still tried to form the same shape which is why it looks like it does.”

Rakon picked up the voice recorder Ankor was talking for. “Do you know what it means?” he asked into it.

Ankor pulled his head up and placed his glasses back on his face. “Remember how when we were traveling around, the biggest difference in the dun crystal samples we studied was just this? The structure is always the same within an element _except_ for the amount of space within it. It makes sense that that’s a manifestation of the difference in how much ambient Ki there was in one area versus another because my flowers always grew similarly, just never this… extreme.”

“So the Ki by the cave…”

“Has dropped, significantly,” he finished. “And only in the last day.”

“What could cause something like that?”

Ankor raised his arms, half laughing, “I have no idea! This is honestly crazy…” He lowered them again and sighed. “I think it’s time to ask the self-proclaimed ‘experts.’”

Rakon winced. He was talking about the temple. The priesthood anywhere had always looked down on what they were researching, only just barely allowing them to pursue it in the first place and making it very clear that one misstep in the treatment of the planet would be their undoing. Parmesan had been particularly short with them.

In his opinion, they were stuck up, closed off, and far too didactic, but they knew more about Ki and crystals than anyone. Not that they had any data to back it up, of course.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

Ankor shrugged. “What other options are there?”

Rakon had to submit to that. He had nothing better, short of just trying to figure it out for themselves, and after today that spot in the woods was beginning to give him the creeps. Why _had_ it been so quiet?

“Alright,” Rakon conceded, “while you’re there, I’m gonna look into something.”

Ankor paused. “You’re not coming with?”

Rakon shook his head. “I’m gonna check another angle,” he told him. He had a sinking feeling in his gut, and he didn’t think it was gonna go away until he knew the answer to his question.

Parmesan’s temple had been built over the ocean, the nexus lying submerged beneath it like Ankor had found many water nexus to be. A great system of docks had been built overtop it, and, as usual, the city’s heart seemed to form around it.

It was a busy day, apparently, and the blonde Qiu had to partially push his way through the crowd. Finally he made it to the temple entrance at the back of the marketplace, large doors open as always. The building towered over everything else nearby, almost impossibly big as it floated over the water. He shivered as he stepped inside and a sudden coolness washed over him. He could never explain why that happened.

As usual, someone was walking over to him almost immediately, partially sensing his question but also very much knowing who he was. It was an Aes Chuki very nearly the color of the ocean, her dark tail stripe even had a ripple to it, like a current running through deep water. Like all the other priests, she wore the traditional robes with spaces cut out to reveal the violet leycrystals on her upper arms. She smiled down at Ankor as she reached him.

“What can I do for you, child?” she asked.

Ankor bit back a retort at that. He was not a child – his tail stripe was grown in same as hers – but there was no point in wasting time on that.

He skipped the pretense, both of them knew he would only be there for one thing. “We discovered something at the site, but we don’t know what to make of it,” he told her.

Ankor watched her steady gaze gain a hint skepticism, and also a bit of distain. “‘Discovered’ something?” she echoed.

He filled her in about his flowers and his theory about the reduction to the magic. Her face remained stone all the while. When he finished, she turned her back to him and began to step away.

“We warned you about your meddling,” she said flatly.

“What? Hey, wait!” He chased after her. “We didn’t do anything. We didn’t even touch any of the nodes.”

She stopped and turned back to him. “It does not matter,” she reinforced, “your experiments stop as of today.”

“What?! You can’t just…” Ankor trailed off as he read the priest’s face. She seemed angry, and also… afraid. “You know something, don’t you?”

Her face darkened further and she stepped forward to loom over him, voice barely a whisper in the large antechamber. “We warned you when you first petitioned us, you are playing with powers unknown to us all. And they are not to be trifled with. Do not go back to that site. This matter is over.”

She walked away again, and that time Ankor let her, though he had more questions than when he’d entered.

“I found something,” Rakon said as Ankor entered their room. He rolled his chair away from the desk to let him look.

Ankor found a map of the city and the surrounding area overlaid with lines of various colors. “What am I looking at?”

“I called up some friends and was basically able to get a complete map of trade and transportation going in and out of the city,” he explained. Ankor gave a sigh. That was his brother, ever into how stuff got moved around. “Notice anything?” he continued.

Ankor continued to study the map, but wasn’t sure what he was looking for. “No, what?”

“This is the section of the forest our study site is,” his brother went on, circling part of the map with his finger. “The site itself is here.” He pointed to a spot just off the edge of where all the lines began.

“Okay?” 

“Notice how no lines go anywhere near that section of forest until they get closer to the city?”

He was right, he realized, it was as though there was cone of space someone forgot to fill in, but that was easily explainable. “Well yeah, there’s super-dense forest all around there.”

“And what if I told you that a week ago it looked like this?” He hit a button and the lines on the map shifted. This new arrangement was much more spread out and penetrated heavily into that section of forest.

“Why would they change something like that?” the younger brother asked.

“No one I talked to knows. ‘Said the city told them to ‘follow new routes until further notice.’ Any questions were met with being hung up on.”

“That’s strange…”

“That’s not it. When we were out there today did you notice how it was silent?”

“Was it?”

“I didn’t hear any birds, animals running around, nothing – not even with my embers. So not only are Chuki avoiding this place,”

“But everything not rooted to the ground as well,” Ankor finished, considering.

“What did the temple say?” Rakon went on.

He sighed. “That our terms are moot, and that we’re not allowed to go back there as well.”

Rakon’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?”

Ankor shrugged. “As far as they’re concerned, we did something and they won’t hear a word otherwise.”

“Darn, that sucks…” Rakon spun in his chair, letting the news sink in. “So we heading back out tomorrow?”

Ankor smiled at his brother. “Absolutely.”

Even with their increased urgency, there wasn’t much for Rakon to do once he’d helped his brother set up the additional equipment in the cave, which he was thankful for as that stuff was stupidly heavy to drag out there and he was already drained. He rested against a tree, trying to drink his bodyweight in water to recharge.

Eventually his heart rate calmed down enough that he could do what he’d wanted to do since they’d set out: listen. He strained his ears, trying to figure out if the other day had been a fluke, but no, it was silent.

Taking a deep breath and standing back up, Rakon held out his hand and snapped his fingers. His ember floated up into the air and his senses expanded.

He searched the forest as his perception grew, but he had been right: there was nothing, no birds, bugs, nothing. That was not at all comforting.

He walked a bit out from the cave, searching for something, anything. There was only the wind. What the heck was going on here?

Then, something brushed against the very edge of his perception and disappeared. Rakon’s head spun towards it. It had come from deeper in the forest. The Jo Chuki approached cautiously, and before long, he felt it again and like before it immediately vanished. How was it doing that?

He took another step forward and started to find shattered trees and torn up ground, like a massive storm had recently hit. Then the feeling returned, and this time it stayed only… it wasn’t there?

He couldn’t actually see or make out its shape. It was more like he could see its lack. That had never happened before. He didn’t like it. He stepped forward, curiosity ruling his caution. The damage to the forest around the blind spot steadily worsened.

He kept on until Rakon was close enough that he should be able to see it with the naked eye. Crouching in a bush, his heart nearly stopped.

He had never seen a monster, and tales of what they could look like were often blown out of proportion, or so he’d thought. There was no doubt in Rakon’s mind that the creature barely dozen feet from him was one of those nightmares given form. It was the largest predator he had ever seen, easily five times his size from head to tail. Sharp teeth bit down on a crystal node before it, shattering it with ease before seeming to devour it. As it did, the scales on its body vibrated and the beast let out a growl that nearly made Rakon bolt up in surprise.

It started to turn. Rakon ran. He didn’t know if the monster saw him or followed. He had one thought in his head: get his brother out of there. Nothing else mattered at that point.

Ankor barely saw Rakon before he slammed into him and was pulled away from the cave mouth. “Hey, what?!” he struggled as his brother ran, dragging him with him until the Jo threw him behind a large tree and forced him to sit.

“Be quiet!” Rakon demanded, and at last Ankor saw the fear on his face, some of which instantly washed into him.

“Rakon…”

He was out of breath but trying to stay as quiet as he could. He kept glancing around the tree hold Ankor down with one arm. What could have happened?

Finally, feeling Ankor’s curiosity, he spoke in barely a whisper: “Monster.”

Ankor paled, fear jolting up and down his back. His heart raced, pounding out of his chest as his breath caught in his throat.

Monster.

No word was feared by Chuki more. The mindless creatures that lived beyond the touch of their cites were the greatest horror and challenge they had ever faced, and one they fought to a stalemate at best, no matter what the City Guard tried to tell them.

How could one have made it this close without any warning?

“Do you see it?” Ankor said in the softest voice he could manage.

Rakon shook his head and Ankor let out a shaky breath. They were safe for the moment; it wasn’t close.

No sooner had the thought formed in the blonde Chuki’s mind that a roar cracked through the forest like thunder. It built in pitch like a siren wail to the point the brothers had to fold over their ears in pain, shrinking to the ground as they did.

The roar stopped, a low rumble that shook the ground taking its place just on the other side of the tree. Ankor squeezed his eyes shut in fear, unable to face whatever was about to happen.

It all came in a blur. The roar sounded again, he felt himself get lifted off of the ground, then heard the crack of wood splintering.

He opened his eyes, curiosity overruling his fear as he realized he wasn’t dead yet. What he saw was a brown Jo, his arm wrapped around Ankor as his purple eyes pierced something in the distance. Ankor followed his gaze and saw the tree they had just been behind rendered to little more than woodchips. He looked around for his brother, and found him on the ground, the brown Chuki gripping him by his shirt collar.

Noticing Ankor’s attention on him, the Jo spoke, “You should not have come here.” He set the Qiu on the ground then helped pull Rakon back to his feet. “Run, before it comes back.”

Ankor’s mind had stalled, unable to process what was going on anymore, the Jo’s words barely made any sense to him. Rakon, still maintaining some composure, stopped the Jo as he tried to step away. “Hold on a second,” he said, “what is going on?”

The monster’s cry answered. Ankor turned in the direction it came and saw it for the first time.

Such a thing should have never existed on this world. It was anathema. There was no glow in its dark eyes as it crawled from the trees like all other animals possessed. It made Ankor think it was dead.

“Too late,” the Jo hissed. He stepped between the brothers as the monster’s eyes locked onto them.

With another roar, it barreled towards them, jumping at the last moment with its maw wide open, revealing rows of pointed teeth. The Jo turned and pulled Ankor and Rakon to him, protecting them with his body. Ankor heard the monster crash to the ground, but it did not hit them. All three of them turned to see how.

The monster lay on its side, struggling beneath a cloaked Chuki that had a large sword buried in its ribs. “Take them and go!” the newcomer shouted, and before Ankor knew it he was being picked up again. The brown Jo ran, pushing Rakon along with them, but soon his brother took the lead, pointing towards believed safety.

He led them to the cave, closing the vines behind them and sealing out all light but the nodes’. The Jo put Ankor down before looking between him and his brother. “I guess this will do until-” he began, collapsing to his knees before he could finish. Ankor immediately saw why: a large gash ran from his right shoulder almost down to the crystal at his hip. Apparently the monster had been able to graze him at some point.

“Are you okay?” Rakon asked, trying to help him up.

The Jo glared back up at them in response. “You two are _very_ lucky we were close by.”

Rakon stepped back in shame. There was no getting around the fact that they were caught now.

“What are you doing out here?” the Jo went on, panting, his adrenaline starting to fade. “This whole forest is off limits.”

Rakon opened his mouth, but his brother beat him to it. “They didn’t tell us there were monsters!” Ankor fought before he could help himself. The last few minutes had been overwhelming, and all his fear was turning to anger as they were lectured by a stranger.

The Jo’s gaze shifted to him. “Calm yourself, that thing may still be close enough to hear.” His tone caught Ankor in his tracks, and he shut up.

There was a moment’s pause before Rakon spoke up, “Neither it or your friend are close by anymore. We’re safe for the moment.”

The Jo looked up at him curiously. “You can see it?”

He shook his head. “Normally I should be able to with my magic, but there’s just a void where it should be.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” the Jo said as he sat down properly. “Monsters have a tendency to disrupt magic, and this one has the ability to camouflage itself as well. It has made tracking very difficult.”

“You’re hunting it?” Ankor spoke up.

“I was helping the Guard find it, though I told them my magic was less than useful on anything living. I couldn’t turn my back on them asking for help.”

Now that things calmed down a bit, Ankor was finally able to get a good look at their savior. Even sitting, the Jo was still taller than the Qiu. He was easily the tallest Chuki he had ever met, and also the bulkiest. His shoulders alone were more than 2 Ankors wide. He wore a simple short-sleeve shirt with an open leather vest overtop it and brown cargo shorts. The cut on his back had gone right through the thin protection that the leather offered him, and as Ankor realized that his mind started fully working again.

“You’re hurt,” he said, going for his bag that was still at the back of the cave. From it he pulled a roll of bandages and one of his flowers he had planted a few days ago at home and was now in full bloom. He tossed the bandages to Rakon and picked the crystal from its pot. He crushed it in his hands before letting the dust run into the mouth of his water bottle. Giving it a shake he handed it to the Jo as his brother finished wrapping him up and let him drink. He coughed once, but kept drinking. Almost immediately, his breathing returned to normal.

“What was that?” the Jo asked once he finished.

Ankor grinned. “My magic. Think of it like storing energy in a battery, only I can give it to anyone. I don’t know any healing magic, but it’s the next best thing.”

The Jo nodded. “Thank you. I feel much better already.”

“I’m Ankor by the way, that’s my brother Rakon.” Rakon waved at him.

“Ferro,” he said simply.

Ankor tried to remain cheerful. “Nice to meet you Ferro!”

“Were it under better circumstances, but this is not, and you still need to get you back to the city.”

“Shouldn’t we wait until you’re better? Do you really think we can make it out without that thing coming back?” Ankor asked, fear returning at the thought.

“No,” a voice that was not Ferro’s said from the shadows. “Likely it is already on its way back if it is not dead. Monsters have only two instincts: self-preservation and reaching nexus.”

The new voice didn’t so much step from the shadows as they were pulled away like a shroud. Ankor recognized her immediately – it was the priest he had spoken to yesterday.

“Nice of you to join us, Sil,” Ferro greeted.

“I was wondering what could have lured the beast so far off the path we followed,” she continued, her gaze piercing into Ankor and Rakon both, “and lo but do I find Parmesan’s biggest troublemakers doing exactly what I told them _not_ to do less than a day gone.”

Ankor was speechless, guilt creeping in. They were caught, and he knew instantly it meant any chance of continuing his research was lost for good. That meant moving again, if they even survived the day…

His brother had a different reaction.

“You should have told us the real reason,” Rakon growled. “The priesthood’s had it in for us since we first petitioned you for the rights to research out here, looking for the slightest excuse to take it back. What? Were we supposed to automatically assume a _monster_ made it _miles_ inside the perimeter? And this wasn’t just some petty spite you threw our way after how we’d been treated?”

Sil’s steel gaze dropped for a moment. “Perhaps… but that does not excuse the fact that you should have listened to me. You put not only your own lives in danger, but the lives of others as well.” She looked down at Ferro.

“If we had known the stakes-” Rakon continued to argue.

“If you had known the stakes there could have been hysteria. We did not dare trust this information to anyone outside of the Guards.”

Rakon stood stone-still, so much so it nearly frightened Ankor, before he pulled something from his pocket and shoved it at the priest. It shined in the light of the node as Sil’s violet eyes went wide.

“You _are_ a Guard,” she breathed.

Rakon took the seal back. “That’s right. So I _fully_ understand what is going on here. And I say again: you should have told us.”

“Why did you not register yourself with the temple when you arrived?” Sil demanded. “You are obligated to answer any summons in defense of the city.”

“You treated my brother and I like crap from the second we set foot in this city. Maybe if you hadn’t, I would’ve.” The priest sniffed at that, but didn’t try to countermand him. “As such, I have none of my equipment with me, _as I didn’t think I would need it_ ,” his glare shot daggers at Sil. “Now, my first and only concern at this point is to get my brother somewhere safe.”

The priest leveled her gaze with him again. “Then we are in agreement at last. I hope that, as a Guard, I don’t need to remind you to keep this to yourselves.”

Rakon looked at the nodes, their blue light shimmering the cave. “Maybe,” he said finally.

“What?” Sil snapped

“A lot can happen before you get back,” he shrugged. “Word of anything could spread during that time.”

The priest stepped up to Rakon until she was barely an inch from him. Though the Jo was nearly a foot taller, she still seemed to tower over him. “Are threatening me?”

Rakon smirked, holding his ground. “I’m a trader; I’m bargaining.”

“No one will believe you,” Sil fought. “You have no proof, Guardsman seal or no.”

“I have the rerouted trade routes.”

That was enough to make Sil flinch.

“None of them know that the rest of them were moved,” Rakon explained. “And even if they don’t believe me completely, they’ll still start asking questions your way, and that will be enough to give any rumor some credence.”

Sil’s jaw clenched, eyes glowing with anger as she stared Rakon down. “What do you want?” she hissed.

“My brother’s right to do his research back. You already know he didn’t violate any of the conditions, so it shouldn’t be too hard.”

Neither of them blinked, orange eyes meeting violet, before Ferro broke out laughing.

“You’ve got some balls, kid, standing up to someone like her.” Then he turned to Sil. “Give him what he wants. It doesn’t sound like a knot in anyone’s tail.”

Sil continued to stare at Rakon. “It’s Chuki like you that will be the death of all, mark my words. Fine. Ferro?”

Ankor turned back to the Jo as he grunted and saw him slowly rising to his feet. “Getting there,” he said back. He cracked his neck as he fully straightened. “I need a vacation.”

“This was your vacation,” Sil reminded him before addressing all of them. “We’ve already been here long enough. Let’s go.”

The priest made a move for the entrance but Rakon held her back. He snapped his fingers and let his spark rise up out of the cave. “It’s clear,” he told them.

He let go of Sil, who shot him a glance before continuing on. With nothing further, they made for the city.

“Are the animals gonna come back?” Ankor asked as the silence started to get to him. They had been walking for a ten minutes that felt like hours. Sil led the way with Rakon watching the rear.

“They should inside of a week once the monster’s either dead or chased off, in my thankfully limited experience,” Ferro told him. “It’s only after one decides to move in that they get scared off for good, and by then you have a lot worse things to worry about.”

Ankor turned to the Jo. “Like what? Have you seen something like that happen?”

The Jo shook his head. “Just stories from the border – things heard from someone who heard from someone and all that.” His eyes scanned the trees while he talked, the seriousness of his face not matching his lighthearted tone.

“What do you do normally, Ferro, that you’d hear stories like that?” Rakon asked from behind them.

“I’m a blacksmith, weapons being my specialty. I get clients from all over, but my shop is in the mountains just out from the southern coast.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Ankor told him.

Ferro gave a shrug.

Rakon’s gaze moved slow between the trunks, then suddenly snapped back. “Sil.”

“Stop,” the priest commanded. She spun to face them, pulling from a sheath beneath her cloak a rapier with a hilt that looked far too big for the blade. “Rakon, what do you see?”

“A shimmer, my ten, about fifteen meters back.”

Sil turned to face that direction, stepping in front of the others as she did. “Listen well,” she told them, “and do as I say this time.” A deep growl came from the trees, making Ankor’s fur stand on end. Rakon placed his hands on his shoulders. “When I tell you to run, you run back to the city as fast as you can, and do not stop until you can see buildings through the trees.”

Rakon’s grip tightened. “I’m staying,” he said. He stepped up next to Sil. I may not be the best fighter, but it can’t hide from me.”

The priest looked at him for a moment like he was crazy, but nodded.

“Rakon…” Ankor said softly, his fear return.

“It’s okay, Ankor” Rakon added softly, “I promised I wouldn’t leave you alone, but I have to do this.” He turned to Ferro. “Can you keep him safe?”

“I will,” he said.

Their calmness worked to lessen Ankor’s fear a good deal, until the monster’s screech came from the trees just as before. It leapt at them from the shadows, camouflage revealing itself as rows of sharp teeth descended upon them. Then it was knocked back as a column of water hit it from below. The water retracted back, coiling around Sil’s sword and shaping itself. Lightning began to ark off its surface brighter and brighter until it was pure light that dimmed as it spread, turning the rapier into claymore taller than Ferro. She turned to Ankor and Ferro as the monster started to get back to its feet.

“Run!” she yelled.

And run they did.

They ran until they made it to Ankor’s home, and then they waited. Hours passed, most waiting by the door or by the Qiu’s phone. As the sun went down, panic set in. Ferro placed a hand on the other Chuki’s head.

“I wouldn’t lose hope yet,” the Jo said. “If it had killed them it would have reached the city by now and we’d hear the alarms, but if they killed it they’d need to drag it beyond the edge of the forest before burning it.”

Ankor didn’t really understand why, but he looked to Ferro as guidance, using his emotions to guide his own. It made him feel a little better.

That night, neither of them got any sleep. They tried to keep themselves and each other occupied, waiting for some form of news to reach them.

A day passed, then two, and by the third Ankor was ready to go to the temple and start asking about them. But before they could finish arguing if that was a good idea, the door opened, Rakon on the other side of it. Ankor nearly knocked him to the floor as he hugged his brother, relief washing over them as they started to laugh.

They let him eat before telling them what’d happened. It had been as Ferro had said: Sil had managed to kill it before the first night, but then they’d had to take it out of the forest, somewhere far enough that no one would see the smoke.

“You’re both okay then?” Ankor probed.

He pulled his brother into his arms. “Yeah, somehow…”

Ankor was relieved, smiling that this story could have a happy ending. He turned to Ferro. “So… what happens now?”

Ferro crossed his arms over his chest. “I suppose that’s up to you.”

Another day passed. Ankor took a trip to the temple to confirm that Sil really was okay and to apologize. Tears welled up in his eyes at last after he said his piece to her that he’d held back for days.

She lifted his chin and smiled down at him. “I also apologize to you and your brother. I should not have given you blind orders to follow. It is against all aspects of enlightenment that the priesthood stands for, and was done in part due to panic.” She looked to make sure no one was near. “We have never dealt with such an occurrence before, but perhaps, one day, you may be able to shed some light on why.”

Ankor looked up at her. “So we can keep working?”

Sil nodded. “While I do not agree threatening me was the right way to go about it, your brother was right in that I should have not taken that permission from you in the first place. Indeed, I would have returned it to you after this had all blown over regardless.”

Ankor dropped his gaze. “Oh…”

“But,” Sil went on, “I understand your thinking and do not blame you for it. You care very much for this work that you do, that is clear. And as a member of the priesthood, I should be the last Chuki to stand in front of someone trying to follow their heart.” She placed her hand on his shoulder. “I also hope you now understand that my actions towards you were not from a place of malice nor will they ever be.”

Ankor nodded. As he turned to go, he noticed crossing through the temple’s threshold didn’t make him shiver that time.

Rakon set his phone on his desk and let out a sigh. It was confirmed: all of the transportation and trade routes had returned back to normal as of that morning. They had all been given different excuses as to the sudden change, from fallen trees to City Guard training and beyond. He ran his hands down his tired face. It was done then, only one problem remained.

Rakon stood up and went to his brother’s lab, checking the time as he did: almost three in the morning. He knocked before poking his head in. Ankor was still poised over his microscope. Rakon could see the bags under his eyes. Neither of them had slept very well since getting back, but Ankor had been worse.

“Come on Ankor, it’s time for bed. None of that stuff is gonna be different in the morning.”

It seemed as though his words took a moment to reach his brother, for when he finally straightened he seemed surprised he was standing in the doorway.

“Rakon, come look at this,” he said, completely ignoring his words and gesturing him over to his own computer. “I found something.”

Rakon followed him to the screen, two graphs glowed back at him, one over the other. “Sil let me take frequency readings of the Nexus today,” he pointed to the top graph. “I was comparing it to the readings on the nodes we had data for when I found this:” he pointed to the second graph. “Guess which that is.”

“Our diode?” Rakon offered.

“You know it. Look how close they are! Normally nodes have a certain amount of deviance, but these are nearly identical! Do you know what that means?”

“No?”

Ankor let the moment dramatically hang for a bit. “It means our diode might be either a direct part of the city’s nexus or a whole new one unto itself! Do you know how big of a discovery that would be? No Chuki has ever been able to find a nexus before it matured!”

Rakon nodded, but he didn’t share his brother’s enthusiasm. Instead, Sil’s words rang in his mind.

_Monsters have only two instincts…_

“You don’t think that’s why that monster was there, do you?” Rakon voiced.

The two of them shared a look, and silently decided they didn’t want to know the answer.


End file.
